Note: This topic is for QuickBase Enterprise administrators only. If you have a QuickBase Team or QuickBase Extended Team account, you do not have access to this feature.
The basic flow for updating an application using an sandbox application appears below:
If you've decided to create a sandbox application, it's because you want to develop and test some major changes and updates to your live application. During this kind of application development, it's important that you restrict all development changes to the sandbox. Therefore, when you create a sandbox, QuickBase locks the live application. At that point, no users can make any changes to the application.
NOTE: An application manager DOES have the ability to unlock a locked live application. However, this could result in unexpected changes or in blocking an update entirely. As a best practice, application managers should avoid unlocking live applications manually. Application manager should only unlock a live application when they've decided to discard the sandbox application without applying changes.
QuickBase, of course, expects you to make some changes to the sandbox application; therefore, a locked sandbox doesn't mean you can't make any changes. Locks in the sandbox application prevent you from making any changes that could cause issues when applied to your live application. For instance, QuickBase won't let you delete fields, tables, or relationships in the sandbox application. QuickBase enforces these locks through both the UI and the API.
QuickBase gives you some visual cues as to what's locked and what's not in the sandbox application. For instance, you'll see lock icons in the sandbox application. Lock icons identify those objects that existed in the live application when the sandbox application was created. QuickBase doesn't let you delete these objects in the sandbox application. (You can change their properties, though, if you'd like).
QuickBase does not allow you to apply updates from the sandbox before you perform a compatibility check between the live application and the sandbox application. During the compatibility check, QuickBase compares the sandbox application to the live application and checks to make sure you are not trying to apply any destructive changes to the live application.
If QuickBase finds issues, you will not be able to proceed with the update. Instead, QuickBase points out exactly what caused the problem. QuickBase also provides tips as to how you might fix the problem and proceed with the update.
The short answer is yes. You can indeed create several sandbox applications from the same live application. You might, for instance, want to test two or three different approaches using sandbox applications created from the same live application.
While creating multiple sandbox applications lets you compare your approaches, remember that QuickBase unlocks the live application when you apply changes from any one sandbox application. In other words, if you create and test two sandbox applications from the same live application:
QuickBase locks the live application when you create the first sandbox application
QuickBase keeps the live application locked when you create the second sandbox application
Once you've applied changes from either sandbox application, QuickBase unlocks the live application. QuickBase also deletes the sandbox application you used to apply your changes.
At this point, you've got another "active" sandbox application. But remember, your live application is no longer locked. That means that the sandbox application is not necessarily an accurate "snapshot" of your live application and shouldn't really be used to apply changes.
Therefore, if you have created multiple sandbox applications from the same live application, you should follow the best practice of deleting all sandbox applications that remain after you apply changes from one sandbox application.
If no issues are found during the compatibility check, QuickBase:
Unlocks the live application.
Applies the sandbox updates to the live application.
Deletes the sandbox application.